First Lady bemoans high infant mortality

Shenzhen, ZANIS—First Lady, Esther Lungu has expressed concern over the high infant mortality rate which has remained unacceptably high despite Zambia recording growth in various sectors of the economy.

She said, there was need for more investments to be injected in the health sector and appealed to China to partner in boosting Zambia’s medical systems.

Mrs Lungu was speaking yesterday following a visit at Shenzhen children’s hospital, which was highly equipped with much advanced medical equipment.

Recently Shenzhen children’s hospital conducted a complicated and risky operation on a three-year old Sri Lankan child, Duleni Sujani, who was born with a multi-malfunction condition that caused his penis, orifice and legs to intertwine.

Duleni’s parents revealed that they had travelled to many countries seeking cure for their child without success.

The First Lady, said Zambia should learn from what China had achieved over the years in investing in the health sector.

Mrs. Lungu stated that children were a sensitive species of human beings who required a lot of health care and urged governments to invest in medical facilities to reduce infant mortality rate.

“I am certainly impressed with the kind of health care Shenzhen is providing to the children both within and outside the city. In Zambia, we have some modern medical facilities but we are far from achieving what has been invested in this hospital,” she said.

Following the visit, Shenzhen children’s hospital offered to train Zambian nurses and doctors in selected medical care fields since the country was still suffering from a disproportionate doctor/nurse to patient ratio.

Shenzhen children’s hospital president, Zhong Shan said the medical facility that was built 17 years ago was among the best six in Guangdong Province and was offering some of the best medical facilities in the world.

Dr. Zhong said the successful operation on the Sri Lanka three-year old boy Duleni was the first of its kind in the world.

He pointed that the surgery was made possible by the Buddhist community that contributed a lot of money to the hospital.

Dr. Zhong added: “The hospital had invested more than US$50 million into high-tech modern medical equipment for the intensive care unit (ICU) and other critical and sensitive departments”.